What is Colour?

by Verner Panton

"Choosing Colours should not be a gamble. It should be a conscious decision. Colours have meaning and function," says Verner Panton. In the book "Notes on Colour", the Danish designer collects his ideas and thoughts on colours. An extract.

"Colours are a subjective, physical perception – they really don’t exist at all. Yellow is yellow only in our thoughts. It is only the function of our eyes that creates colours. Everything in our surroundings has a color – only water (distilled) and schnapps are colourless!"

"The perception of colour depends on the source of the light. The sun is our most important source of light. Daylight is rich in blue tones. In contrast the standard light bulb does not contain much blue or violet but has a great deal of yellow, orange and red. Sunlight has a more golden tone. When it falls on fresh snow it looks more yellowish while fresh ski tracks cast a blue shadow because of the pure light from the sky."